


The rules.

by SilentScreaming



Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humour, Love, Love Island: The Game Season 1, Love Island: The Game Season 2, Post-Villa (Love Island: The Game), Romance, Sisters, Whatsapp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 03:20:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22049080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentScreaming/pseuds/SilentScreaming
Summary: How to survive Love IslandRule number one: choose Mr Nice...
Relationships: Gary/Main Character (Love Island), Jake Wilson/Main Character (Love Island), Jen/Tim (Love Island), Marisol/Rocco (Love Island), Rocco/Main Character (Love Island)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 49





	1. Day 1

Jen let out a squeal of excitement as she handed the popcorn to Jake and settled into her spot on the sofa next to Tim “Oh my God there she is! And she’s got first pick.”

On screen Ava walked out of the villa and approached the line of waiting boys. Beth, sitting on the floor resting her back on Jakes knees turned “I can’t believe it. It seems like yesterday we were all in the villa, and now your little sister is right there. She looks amazing in that bikini by the way.”

“Of course she does, it’s a Jen original” laughed Tim. Ava’s suitcase had been crammed full of Jen’s new designer swim wear range, she was going to be the best dressed in the villa by far.

“Shhh” murmured Jake as on screen Ava started to speak to each boy in turn. “Lay your bets folks, who will she go for?”

Beth had been trusted to run Ava’s socials while she was on the show, and she now sat with her fingers poised above the keypad ready to post a reaction. “Not Blondie surely? He’s a bit basic?”

“He’s built like an ox” gaped Jake.

“But does he have the Bants?” Tim wondered

Meanwhile Ava moved on to get an introduction from Rocco. Jen screws up her nose “Absolutely not” she mutters under her breath. 

Noah is up next and opinion in the room divides, Tim dismisses him out right as being ‘too quiet’. Beth turns around and smiles seductively at Jake “don’t dismiss the quiet ones” she purrs. Jake blushes and fondly strokes her shoulder. Jen watches Ava’s reaction closely and pronounces her ‘interested’ in him.

Ibrahim has them in stitches with his botched chat up line. Tim proclaims him a ‘dork’ pelting the screen with popcorn, which immediately casts him as the underdog to the other 3 and they cheer him on in spite of Tim.

Comically dramatic shushing fills the room as Ava reaches the last lad, Bobby. Predictably Tim likes him immediately, perhaps seeing a shade of himself in the joker with a heart of gold act. “This one I like” he nods. Jen laughs and reminds him that he isn’t the one doing the choosing.

“Remember the rules” Jen murmurs. 

Jake raises a questioning eyebrow, and Beth dramatically whispers “We’ve got 5 rules for surviving love Island”

“She’ll go Noah” Jen predicts, Beth nods in agreement, silently thinking who wouldn’t? Jake and Tim agree he’s a solid choice. On screen Ava invites the boys to step forward if they are interested in her, one by one they all step forward, except Noah. At home the room erupts “No!” exclaims Jen.

“How dare he?” rages Tim. As protective of him fiancé’s sister as he is of her. Again he pelts the TV with popcorn.

“Perhaps he’s so nervous that he thinks he’ll wet himself if he moves?” suggests Jake, to peals of laughter from the others.

After only a moment’s hesitation Ava chooses Gary, and they briefly hug as she goes to stand next to him. As the other girls come out one by one and make their selections Beth busies herself on the socials and other’s begin to hotly debate the pros and cons of Gary. 

Only Jen and Beth had known that Ava had been scouted to go into the villa, and in the two weeks leading up to the launch, they’d met up for wine and strategy chats a handful of times. They had persuaded the producers not to mention that Ava was Jen’s sister, it would probably come out in the press eventually, but they had agreed it was better if people didn’t perceive her to be riding in on her sister’s coat tails. No one likes a desperate attempt to be famous by association. 

It was during one of these sessions that they scribbled down the rules for surviving Love Island. It was well known that previous islanders had struggled with the media attention, and even more so the subsequent lack of media attention. Allegra had been in and out of rehab having found that she’d been branded the villain of the villa last year. And Erica was moving in some worrying circles having fallen in with some music industry types who seemed desperate enough to do anything to be in the limelight. 

The aim of the rules wasn’t to win, just to ensure you escape without permanent damage. Rule number one had started out as:

\- Don’t date models

Then amended to add:

\- Or anyone prettier than you

Then further altered, in a clear snub to Levi:

\- Or sports stars

A caveat had been added

\- But don’t aim too low

Finally rule one had got so complicated they’d crossed all of that out and replaced it with – Choose Mr Nice Guy.

When Lottie stalks out of the villa and approaches Gary, claiming she would have picked him if Ava hadn’t there are pantomime boos from the sofa. 

When Hope appears, zoning straight in on Noah, hoots arise from the room. “He didn’t step forward for her either” notices Beth. 

Tim brands Hope a ‘dog on heat’, lowering his voice, he looks over Jen’s head straight into Jake’s eyes, repeating “Well aren’t you just a snack?” He manages to sound more like Barry White than Hope, making Jake almost snort beer down his nose in laughter.

Later in the episode Ava and Gary finally get a moment alone, and the consensus is that she has followed rule one well, Gary really does appear to be Mr Nice Guy. He invites her to ask him anything, and Ava goes in with “what’s your favourite Barnyard Animal?” Tim and Jake laugh, ‘why would she ask that?’ they query.

“Ah” laughs Jen, “That will be Rule 2 – Don’t be predictable”.


	2. Rule number 2 – don’t be predictable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 is certainly unpredictable

It’s day 3 and the gang are back together to watch the show. This time joined by Rohan who sits with his legs crossed, perfectly balanced on Jen’s exercise ball.  
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me little Ava was going into the villa!” Rohan complains.  
“Mate" says Tim, laughing “these two both knew and they didn’t tell us until an hour before launch!”  
Silence descends as the familiar theme tune starts up, and Iain Sterling gives a summary of the previous happenings. There’s a pantomime boo as he recaps Priya stealing Gary. 

The episode starts with Hannah and Marisol in the kitchen cooking, discussing books. Tim let’s out a massive yawn “This lot are a real snooze fest. We weren’t this dull last year.”  
Everyone shushes him as Ava saunters into shot.  
“Hot Dam!” exclaims Rohan “you could have told me she was looking for love.”  
“Shhh” hisses Beth.  
The cameras cut to Ava talking to Gary in the bedroom snuggling onto the bed next to him.  
“Cheeky minx" says Tim.  
When Marisol and Hannah come dashing in with competing breakfast options, Gary takes one for himself and gives the other to Ava; much to the amusement of the assembled viewers. Ava quirks an eyebrow at Marisol and invites her to join them in bed; Rohan groans “that Gary’s a lucky bleeder.”  
Beth snaps her attention to him, “Quick, tweet that, and I’ll retweet it from Ava’s account. If we can net your followers into voting for her we’ll up her numbers for sure. We can’t get Jen or Tim to big her up, because it’ll look well suss once the papers work out the connection.”  
Rohan puts out his tweet, and for good measure Jake _likes_ it.  
Within 10 minutes Ava's Twitter followers have reached 12,000. Not bad for an account that they’d only opened 3 days ago.

On screen Ava is playing it cool, despite being single she’s not overtly grafting, mostly just engaging in friendly chats with the guys who approach her.  
Before the ad break they trail the recoupling, and the gang fall into a lively discussion of what’s likely to go down.  
The consensus is that Gary is sure to decide to return to Ava. The show has hardly shown him together with Priya at all. Beth and Jen are super excited to see Ava and Gary reunited.  
Jake is convinced that Noah will dump Hope for Hannah “She’s far more his type.”  
Rocco and Lottie look to be on shaky ground after she called him out for blatantly making up his knowledge of healing crystals.

Noah is up first at the firepit. “£20 says he hasn’t got the balls to dump Hope" Tim challenges.  
“I’ll take that action” Jake laughs, as they fist bump over Jen’s head.  
Seconds later he regrets it as Noah picks Hope. “Get that wallet out" teases Tim.

Rahim picks Priya, which means she’s safely out of the competition for Gary.  
Next up is Rocco. “Marisol” predicts Jen. The room erupts into shouts of dismay when he blindsides everyone by picking Ava.  
“What the hell? She’s barely spoken to him!” Beth moans.  
TIm is livid “He better keep his greasy mitts to himself or I’ll be over there.”  
“Oh bless her, look at her face.” Jen sighs.  
On screen a close up shows Ava’s panic-stricken look between Rocco and Gary. She looks genuinely confused and upset.  
After Bobby chooses Lottie, Gary finally gets his turn. He’s left with a choice of Hannah or Marisol.  
The money back at home is all on Marisol, no one can see him going for the quiet young Hannah.

During the ad break Jake unveils a tin of sausage rolls he'd made that afternoon. “Because I don’t want to be out done by Bobby’s baking.” Beth smiled at him as she bit into the flaky pastry, and thought again how lucky she was to have found him. Jake really was the best.

When the ads are over the islanders are saying their goodbyes to Hannah at the door. Lottie is weeping uncontrollably, ramping up the drama.  
“She only met her 3 days ago” says Tim in disbelief.  
On screen Lottie follows Gary into the bathroom, shouting at him, blaming him for not choosing Hannah.  
“Give the poor guy a break.” Beth calls out.  
Jake agrees “He wanted Ava, it’s not his fault his was last to pick!”  
One minute Lottie is screaming at Gary, and the next he’s grabbing her and kissing her passionately. All tongues and hands. They paw at each other in a stomach churning display until finally pulling apart panting. Staring at each other for a moment before Lottie turns on her heel and runs.  
There is a collective intake of breath back at the flat. In shock they watch mouths open as in the very next scene Gary is seen telling Ava how much he wanted to choose her, and that he hopes she'll wait for him at the next recoupling. 

The credits roll, and Jen mutters the word on everyone’s lips. “Bastard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you'd like more of this story.


	3. Keep calm and carry on

Between their various work commitments it was a few days before the two couples managed to get together again. This time they met at Jake and Beth's beautiful home; where Jake cooked an amazing Lamb Tagine which they ate before the show. Over dinner they discussed the events of the last few days. Particularly how disappoint they were in Gary.  
“Did you hear him bragging to Ava and Lottie the very next morning about doing stuff with Marisol?” Asked an outraged Jen.  
“He’s shameless” Beth joins in “bragging to two girls for are both into him...”  
“And it wasn’t even true" Jake interrupts.   
“Absolutely shameless" Beth repeats.  
Tim hastily swallows a mouthful of bread “And what Ava thinking? She’s only gone and snogged the geezer at the gym. Surely you guys had a rule about that?”

The outrage continues well into dessert. Rocco is absolutely slated by the friends for grafting on every girl in the villa while coupled with Ava. His only redeeming feature seems to be that he saved Ava from getting further involved with Gary.   
Everyone agreed that Lottie and Hope made way too much fuss over the slime challenge, since it technically wasn’t possible to make any of the colours without getting up close with at least one guy that wasn’t your partner. Ava’s decision to rub up against Marisol certainly ticked rule number 2: don’t be predictable. Viewers had loved it and Ava had picked up an extra 40,000 twitter followers over night. Well, Beth’s amazing memes were also a factor. 

Taking their positions in the living room the four friends turned their attention to the villa’s new arrivals from the previous day. Jen thought Lucas was the perfect match for her little sister. They seemed to have similar family backgrounds, he had a good job, and was seriously easy on the eye. Beth was team Henrik, she thought Ava had dated men like Lucas before, Henrik she said would be an adventure. Both Tim and Jake thought Henrik was hilarious, or more specifically the way he fell for the other lad's banter was; neither of them rated him as an option for Ava. They were angling hard towards Bobby’s corner. His humour appealing to Tim, while Jake was wooed by his love of baking.  
Ava had gone on dates with both Lucas and Henrik, but so far she still appeared to be under Gary’s spell.

Finally it’s 9 o’clock, Showtime.   
The islanders are told there will be a kissing challenge, on screen Ava comments it sounds ‘like drama.’  
“And then some" agrees Beth watching at home.  
Hope grabs the first card _this boy spent £500 on the first date_.   
The girls, for once, work well together to talk through who Hope should kiss. With Ava’s help they settle correctly on Rahim; who looks massively uncomfortable as Hope quickly places a chaste kiss to his lips.  
Tim laughs “go on, you can do better than that.” He nearly slips off the sofa in shock when on screen Bobby echoes his sentiment. “Bobby! Ma Man!” Tim cheers.

It’s Gary’s turn next, he has to kiss _the girl who once got a full makeover, just for movies night with her mates._  
“Oh please,” Beth moans with exasperation “who would even do that?”  
The other three answer almost in sync with each other “Priya”. 

On screen Gary and the lads huddle in to discuss, before Gary walks confidently to Ava. “As if!” Jen shouts at the television.   
“Keep walking little man" adds Jake.  
As Gary leans in for the kiss Tim shouts an encouraging “Knee him in the bollocks Ava!”   
Ava places her hand on Gary’s cheek, and gives him a gentle kiss, slightly catching his lip as she pulls away. Gary beams with pleasure, while Beth makes retching sounds and Jen breathes “noooooo.”

On screen Marisol bitches about Ava kissing her man. “She literally said like 10 minutes ago that they had no Chemistry” chokes Tim.   
Clearly trying to keep the drama centre on Ava, Hope forces her to ho next.   
_Kiss the guy who has had the most sexual partners._  
In unison Tim, Jen, Jake and Beth call out “Gary!”  
“He’s like a walking STD advert” says Jen, crinkling her nose.

On screen all the girls except Marisol think it’s Rocco. Ava looks none too thrilled at the thought of kissing him, despite him being her partner.   
“Ew don’t do it" cringes Jen “he looks like he’s made from grease.”

Ava very quickly pecks Rocco on the cheek, virtually running back to her space in the line of girls.   
No one back at Jake’s place is surprised when Gary reveals it was him. “Do you think he takes them home while his Nan is asleep in the next room?” asks Jake. Jen whacks him with a sofa cushion and calls him ‘gross.’ They are so busy discussing Gary’s sex life that they miss the boys discussion about which of the girls was thrown out from a club for dancing on the tables. When Lucas stands in front on Ava, gently cups her face in his hands and places a slow lingering kiss to her lips Jen starts bouncing up and down on the sofa. “Go on Ava!”  
“Wait what was that one for?” asks Beth.  
“Something to do with being a table dancer?” Tim says, equally puzzled.   
“When did Ava dance on tables?” Beth asks, confused.   
“She hasn’t! That I know of" explains Jen. And she’s right, that was Hope.

Marisol grabs the next card, and despite the fact he’s visibly at least part orangutan she identifies Rocco as being the boy most likely to get a monthly back sack and crack wax. On screen she’s looks like she’s trying to remove his tonsils using only her tongue.

“Gross, but she’s welcome to him" Jen judges.   
“Eww god, how long is she going to keep this up for?” Beth adds.  
Eyes in the villa swivel to see Ava’s reaction. “Keep calm and carry on" mutter Jen and Beth in unison.   
“It’s just a game" laughs Ava.

Almost immediately Rocco takes a card, _this girl cancelled a romantic weekend because her friend needed her._

“Ava" sighs Jen. “Although that Todd guy was no less.”  
Rocco seems to give no consideration to the clue at all. He hones in on Marisol. Jake laughs “uh-oh he’s back for more.”

Their second kiss is even more intimate, the microphones picking up a disturbing squelchyness. Hands roam freely, and the whole thing goes on far longer than is appropriate. 

“Unsee unsee!” shouts Jake.  
“He’s proper mugged her off there like" Tim complains.   
On screen Ava appears unphased while all the other girls rage on her behalf.  
“That’s my girl” Beth whispers.   
“She didn’t like him anyway” points out Jake.   
“Yeah, but it’s about respect man.” Says Tim, still outraged “if I was her I’d be telling them what’s what.”

The girls explain, to survive in the villa you have to be able to rise above the drama. Don’t get dragged into their mind games, that’s why rule number three is the old wartime classic ‘keep calm and carry on'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it working? Or just confusing?  
> Please let me know if you'd like to read more.


	4. What's Up?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hope this works....

❤🏝 chat  
Tim 💗, Jen, Jake  
  
**Jen:** Hiya. Everyone managed to get in front of a telly?  
  
**Jen:** I'm so excited  
  
**Beth:** Hi. Have you seen the trailer for tonight?  
  
**Tim:** Alright All. I’ve found an English bar and managed to convince the geeza to change the channel off snooker. My set doesn’t start till 12:30, so I’m having a beer and a burger.  
  
**Jen:** Miss you babe 😘  
  
**Tim:** Miss U 2 sweetheart.  
  
**Jen:** So, trailer, what’s the news?  
  
**Beth:** RECOUPLING!  
  
**Jen:** Whoop! Whoop!  
  
**Tim:** WTF is Hope wearing?  
  
**Beth:** I know right?  
  
**Jen:** 😯  
  
**Tim:** Uh Oh Lottie looks like she’s plotting.   
  
**Tim:** And there U have it. KMT he was Ava’s first.   
  
**Tim:** Does Ava still. Want Gary anyway?  
  
**Beth:** Remember she hasn’t seen him graft Priya and Lottie.   
  
**Tim:** And that daft ginger bird.   
**Jen:** Tim!  
  
**Jen:** Oh thank god. She’s promised to step aside and let Lottie have him.  
  
**Jen:** I almost feel sorry for Lottie.   
  
**Beth:** I don’t! Not after she voted Lucas out. Lottie might have more of a chance with Gary if she hadn’t got rid of Lucas.  
  
**Tim:** Tru Dat.  
  
**Beth:** She wouldn’t say that but pick him anyway would she? I mean, it would be unpredictable?  
  
**Jen:** I can’t watch! 🙈  
  
**Tim:** Here he comes. Fresh from peroxiding his pubes.  
  
**Jen:** Tim!  
  
**Beth:** I swear that’s the same line he just used on Lottie, not 5 minutes ago.  
  
**Beth:** Come on Ava, see through him. You can do so much better.  
  
**Beth:** Oooooh. Look at Bobby’s little face.  
  
**Jen:** He's like a puppy, following her around giving her the big eyes.  
  
**Tim:** No dissing ma man Bobby. Can’t blame him for having good taste.   
  
**Beth:** It reminds me of how you follow Jen about last year x   
  
**Jen:** 😂😂😂  
  
**Tim:** Jen was the one making puppy dog eyes!   
  
**Jen:** In your dreams.  
  
**Tim:** Babe, U R always in my dreams. 😉  
  
**Beth:** Get a room.  
  
**Tim:** Right here we go, place your bets Ladies.  
  
**Tim:** Smart Money is on my man Bobby  
  
**Beth:** Gary – Unfortunately   
  
**Jen:** She'll mix it up and go Henrik  
  
**Tim:** FFS Hope would be first.  
**Jen:** I can’t watch.  
  
**Beth:** OMG!  
  
**Jen:** Look at his face!   
  
**Tim:** 😂😂😂  
  
**Jake:** What did I miss?  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, almost.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Please do leave any notes, corrections, criticisms below. Without your help I can't improve. 
> 
> What would your rules for survival in the villa be?


End file.
